Issue 16: Boys' Victimization & Adult IPV Perpetration

Opportunities for prevention across the life course

Research indicates that approximately 1 in 6 maltreated boys go on to perpetrate violence.1 Yet, men’s childhood experiences with abuse, neglect, and exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) are often under-recognized and subsequently remain untreated.2

Why is the victimization of boys an important issue to understand in the prevention of gender-based violence?

Men comprise over 80% of perpetrators of violence against women in Canada, and one key risk factor for the perpetration of IPV is the experience of neglect, abuse, or exposure to IPV in childhood (referred to from this point forward as child maltreatment).3

Of course, not all boys who experience violence as children become perpetrators of IPV, and not all men will use or condone gender-based violence.

Nevertheless, prevention efforts cannot overlook the increasing evidence of an association between the two.

There are a wide range of factors involved in IPV perpetration. This newsletter draws attention to the ways in which IPV prevention can be enhanced through identifying men at risk of becoming perpetrators at earlier points in their lives. It is possible that the impacts of boys’ experiences of violence can be minimized through age-specific intervention programs. In turn, this may reduce the proportion of these boys who go on to perpetrate violence against their partners as they grow older.

Taking a Life Course Perspective

Human development is a lifelong process.

Children’s lives are intricately linked to those of their parents or caregivers.

Child is present during physical or verbal violence between
intimate partners and can see and/or hear the violence (direct);
child not present during violence but suffers consequences, hears
about it, or experiences changes in his/her life as a result (indirect); child is exposed to emotional violence between intimate partners.

IPV Perpetration & Child Maltreatment: Shared Risk Factors

IPV and child maltreatment are inter-related forms of violence. In fact, over 33% of children exposed to IPV in the past year also experienced maltreatment, compared to just 9% of children with no IPV exposure.5 Not surprisingly, there are many common risk factors between IPV perpetration and child maltreatment perpetration.

Associated Consequences of Family Violence Across the Life Course

Both child maltreatment and IPV are associated with many adverse effects on health and well-being across the life course, situating these forms of violence as public health issues requiring concentrated prevention efforts. Examples of the impacts of violence are pictured below.

Longitudinal research supports cross-sectional findings and indicates boys who have experienced maltreatment have a higher risk for perpetrating violence against women as they grow older than boys with no such experiences. Findings also reveal that young adulthood may be a key timeframe for the emerging effects of child maltreatment.

Many studies link child maltreatment to dating or intimate partner violence in adolescence and young adulthood or find that child maltreatment predicts youth violence, which in turn, predicts IPV perpetration.

Research Highlights

One large national survey found that men’s risk of perpetrating IPV increased by 58 to 64%, depending on the type of maltreatment they experienced as boys – sexual abuse, IPV exposure, or physical abuse (Roberts et al., 2011).

Pathways to Perpetration: Situating boys' and men's experiences of violence

Pathways to IPV perpetration are complex and require a multifaceted approach to prevention. When examining prevention by life stage, it is important to consider co-existing and contextual risk factors:

Prevention across the Life Course

We reviewed evidence-based prevention strategies with results from randomized control trials10, and to a lesser extent, strategies with emerging evidence that are considered promising.

Developing Protective Resources & Resilience

In addition to reducing negative behaviours and minimizing the adverse consequences of violence, another important aspect of prevention involves developing protective resources and competencies which may be especially valuable to high-risk young children and their families.

Considerations for Future Research

Data Collection

Enhance data collection on child maltreatment and IPV (e.g. prospective longitudinal studies following children from birth with the capacity to control for potential confounding factors) and dissemination of findings to relevant stakeholders.

Increase longitudinal research on risk and resiliency among maltreated children, including those exposed to IPV.

Collect data on partner violence outcomes for maltreated boys who have and have not received treatment.

1 WHO, 2007.
2 Haegrich & Hall, 2011.
3 Smith et al., 2011; Renner & Whitney, 2012; Millett et al., 2013.
4 Public Health Agency of Canada, 2010.
5 Hamby et al., 2010.
6 Maguire et al., 2015.
7 Bandura, 1977; Eriksson & Mazerolle, 2015.
8 Bowlby, 1969; Levendosky et al., 2012.
9 It is important to remember that not all perpetrators of IPV have experienced abuse, neglect, or IPV exposure and that there can be many different pathways leading to IPV perpetration. Additionally, not all studies find strong support for this link.
10 For the purposes of this newsletter, we defined “evidence-based” as studies which used randomized control trials; however, we recognize that there are other forms of evidence that can be used to inform policy and practice.